Sorry it has been so so long since I have posted. This term has been a whirlwind and has been busy!
I think we have found out that Enshi does not really have a spring. The temperatures have been in the mid-80's lately. I don't mind at all. I'm still dethawing from the winter. Summer temperatures mean cold noodles and watermelon, my new favorite treat.
It is hard to believe that we only have 9 weeks left in China. This term is going by so quickly. I am really excited about seeing everyone at home, but I am going to miss my friends here very much. Many of them already get sad when they think about us leaving. They are amazing people and I wish I could bring them all back to America with me.
Craig and Nathan recently went on a trip to another county in the province. They went to a high school speech competition. Many of the students have never seen a foreigner, so you can imagine the excitement that took place for them. They really enjoyed it!
Well..I've been wondering since I got here what would happen if you were on a bus and it wrecked. We found out last week. That was our second wreck but the good thing about a bus was we didn't even know it hit the car. We just hopped off that bus and onto another one. You can't imagine the traffic here. It's crazy!
We've enjoyed some American snacks lately thanks to our parents and Margie! A package with food is like Christmas. When I get home, I will definitely not take things for granted. I have really learned to appreciate things and have really found out how blessed I am to have such a good family and friends. They have really been a support for me. So Thank You!
This term is going fantastic and we are so grateful for all of our friends here!
We look forward to sharing all of our stories with you when we return!
We Love You All!
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Monday, March 9, 2009
Spring Is In The Air
I think just maybe that winter is over. We had two really cold weeks, but the past few days have been sunny and the forecast looks promising. Our students told us in ancient Chinese legends there is a really cold spell before the spring comes, so fingers crossed that it is over. The weather has been beautiful and sunny. Craig and I spent all day outside on Saturday playing football(soccer) and volleyball with our students. We even have a little color from the sun. We have not had a lot of physical exercise over the winter so our bodies are a little sore, but it is a great feeling.
Our campus is covered in cherry blossom trees and they are all blooming. They are beautiful and smell so good as you walk by. All the signs of spring are here, but I guess I don't know the signs here in China, so we will have to see.
We have really had a great first 3 weeks of teaching. We are enjoying our classes and are getting to spend a lot of time with our students and close friends. Our reading groups are going great and our students are really making good progress.
We have also discovered a new favorite food. It is the Chinese hamburger! We have ate it everyday for the past week. It is two pieces of baked pita bread with shredded pork with some yummy spices. It tastes like BBQ! YUMMY!!
We will try to post pictures soon of some of the things we have been doing lately. Hope you enjoy reading about our life in China!
Our campus is covered in cherry blossom trees and they are all blooming. They are beautiful and smell so good as you walk by. All the signs of spring are here, but I guess I don't know the signs here in China, so we will have to see.
We have really had a great first 3 weeks of teaching. We are enjoying our classes and are getting to spend a lot of time with our students and close friends. Our reading groups are going great and our students are really making good progress.
We have also discovered a new favorite food. It is the Chinese hamburger! We have ate it everyday for the past week. It is two pieces of baked pita bread with shredded pork with some yummy spices. It tastes like BBQ! YUMMY!!
We will try to post pictures soon of some of the things we have been doing lately. Hope you enjoy reading about our life in China!
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Rain Drops Keep Falling On My Head
Well..We are back in the full swing of things. We have just finished our second week of teaching. We have been busy busy for two weeks teaching, catching up with friends and students, and planning for the term. It has been so good to have everyone back and have things back to normal. We have started our reading groups again and so far they are going good. We are thankful for all of the friends we have made here.
In the last blog, I told you that I thought the winter was gone. I guess Enshi has a little Arkansas weather in it because it turned cold again. Not only has it been cold, but it has been rainy and cloudy for 2 and a half weeks and it is supposed to stay the same for at least 10 more days. Blah! I need some sunshine. We did have our first thunderstorm two nights ago. Thunder, lightning, wind, hard rain, and hail, It was wonderful! The Americans were excited and standing on the balcony watching while all of the Chinese people were running like it was WWIII. You could hear people screaming from every direction and students running everywhere. Thunderstorms don't happen here so they were all scared. It is so funny to hear them talking about it. We miss sitting and watching storms, and it was nice to have a taste of home here.
We now have five English channels including National Geographic, a movie channel, and the Hallmark channel. Craig has been overwhelmed with knowledge from National Geographic. So..I've been paranoid about the bird flu since there have been some new cases in a province close to us. We were watching t.v. and a commercial came on for how to prevent the Avian flu. That is when you know to be scared about something when they start running commercials for it.
So life is back to "normal" here in Enshi. We have 3 and half months left here and we look forward to those months and we look forward to coming home to see everyone.
In the last blog, I told you that I thought the winter was gone. I guess Enshi has a little Arkansas weather in it because it turned cold again. Not only has it been cold, but it has been rainy and cloudy for 2 and a half weeks and it is supposed to stay the same for at least 10 more days. Blah! I need some sunshine. We did have our first thunderstorm two nights ago. Thunder, lightning, wind, hard rain, and hail, It was wonderful! The Americans were excited and standing on the balcony watching while all of the Chinese people were running like it was WWIII. You could hear people screaming from every direction and students running everywhere. Thunderstorms don't happen here so they were all scared. It is so funny to hear them talking about it. We miss sitting and watching storms, and it was nice to have a taste of home here.
We now have five English channels including National Geographic, a movie channel, and the Hallmark channel. Craig has been overwhelmed with knowledge from National Geographic. So..I've been paranoid about the bird flu since there have been some new cases in a province close to us. We were watching t.v. and a commercial came on for how to prevent the Avian flu. That is when you know to be scared about something when they start running commercials for it.
So life is back to "normal" here in Enshi. We have 3 and half months left here and we look forward to those months and we look forward to coming home to see everyone.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
The End of Winter, We Hope!
Well...We think quite possibly the cold winter temperatures may be over. It has been in the 50's and 60's for over a week. We have only had to use one little burner on our space heater to keep us warm at night. We have been using all 5 burners and it was still cold some nights. We have officially been able to move out of our bedroom and use the rest of our house. That also means we don't freeze when we take showers. Oh the things you appreciate when you live in a foreign country.
Craig and I have both been under the weather for 4 days now. We both have colds and Craig has a bad cough. We are on medicine and we are improving! Since we got sick, we didn't get to go on our camping trip we had planned, but we will go again.
Our classes start on Monday the 16th. We are SO ready! Two months of vacation is WAY too LONG! We are ready for our students to get back! We have been preparing for the next term and we are feeling really confident and know it will be a good one.
Continue to keep us in your thoughts and we would love to hear how everything is going in your lives!
Craig and I have both been under the weather for 4 days now. We both have colds and Craig has a bad cough. We are on medicine and we are improving! Since we got sick, we didn't get to go on our camping trip we had planned, but we will go again.
Our classes start on Monday the 16th. We are SO ready! Two months of vacation is WAY too LONG! We are ready for our students to get back! We have been preparing for the next term and we are feeling really confident and know it will be a good one.
Continue to keep us in your thoughts and we would love to hear how everything is going in your lives!
Friday, January 23, 2009
Blue Sky, Sun, Sand, and When Animals Attack
Craig and I just returned from our One Year Anniversary trip(a few months to late) to Sanya, Hainan. It was absolutely beautiful! We put pictures on our picture website for everyone to look at.
It did not feel like we were in China when we were there, but it still had unique Chinese characteristics. We really had a great time for the week we were there. It was nice to get away from the frigid temperatures in Enshi and go to an island where it was 80 degrees. Since I only see the sun once a week, the sun really got me down there. I was under a beach umbrella and still burnt my legs from the reflection of the sun off of the ocean.
We flew from Wuhan to Sanya and we were picked up at the airport by a surfer named Joey from Taiwan. We really enjoyed getting to talk to him. He took us to our hostel where we stayed during the trip. We met a lot of people there. We met people from Oregon, Illinois, Montana, Florida, South Carolina, New York, and Colorado. There were also people from Russia, Sweden, and France that stayed there. A lot of Russians come down to Sanya to vacation. It was nice seeing people that looked similar to us even if we didn't speak the same language. Over our vacation we had a multicultural experience with all of the different people there.
During our first day, we relaxed on the beach and enjoyed the sunshine. On the way to the bus stop, we had a unique experience. In the middle of four lanes of highway, a water buffalo was wandering down the street. Of course there was a crowd following it and also a police car honking and yelling at it. The water buffalo got scared and jumped the median and attacked a lady. She stood up and then it hit her again. We tried to make it across the street, but the traffic was too heavy. She was okay and walked away with no problems. We got on the bus and the water buffalo was still making his way down the street. We do not know what happened, but hopefully he did not hurt anyone else. Our other encounter with another wild animal comes later.
We also got to enjoy a lot of American food while we were there. There was a restaurant named the Rainbow Cafe. We ate there a few times because it was so delicious. They had the most amazing hamburgers and salad. It made us miss American food even more! The waiter, Tony was also really cool so liked going there because of him. We also ate some McDonalds while we were there. We don't eat when we are home, but here it is so nice to have a Big Mac or Chicken Mcnuggets sometime and of course an ice cream cone. We also found a little street restaurant that had delicious seafood fried rice. It was nice to enjoy Western food when you leave in a city that has NO Western food, unless we cook it.
We got to go snorkeling in the ocean. It was my first time and I loved it once I got over the initial fear of being in deep water and going under. We saw a beautiful coral reef, some tropical fish, and even a few squid. Our guide spoke two English words, come and go. It was pretty funny to hear him yelling come and go at us. I tried to speak a little Chinese to him and I failed!
Our favorite part of the trip was going to Monkey Island. You had to drive an hour outside of Sanya to get to the island and then ride a cable car across forest and ocean to get there. The drive there was through rural areas. We saw cows! I know that sounds silly, but we haven't seen them in five months. All we see are water buffalo. There were also pigs, chickens, and goats walking around along side the roads. It was also the fastest we have gone in a car in five months. Our taxi driver was going around 80 miles per hour on the interstate. I was absolutely terrified because the fastest we have gone since we have been home is around 30 miles an hour. Once we made it on the island, there were monkeys everywhere including little baby monkeys. They were so curious and would walk right up to you or try to get into your bag. We took pictures and put them on our website so you could see how cute they were. I did have one scary encounter with a mother monkey. Craig left me for a few minutes to go the bathroom. I was standing in an area watching the monkeys play in the trees when a baby monkey swung about 2 feet from my face in a tree nearby. All of a sudden a mother monkey came running at me with her teeth showing. I was terrified! I walked away slowly and it stopped coming at me, but I thought I was about to have to fight a monkey. Another monkey tried to climb on me when I was kneeling down to take a picture. I liked the monkeys, but after the close encounters I was ready to go.
We had a lot of relaxing on the beach, a little bit of street shopping, and just enjoying the warm weather. I was not ready to come back, but was happy to come back to our friends. Since flights were too expensive, we took a bus from Wuhan to Enshi. It was a little crazy trying to find out which bus we needed to get on to go to another bus station, but we had people help us the whole way. There was not a direct bus to Enshi so we took a 4 hour bus ride to Yichang and stayed with Zach and Elizabeth for a night. We enjoyed getting to hang out with them and Elizabeth made cheesecake! The next morning we got up at 6 A.M. to catch the bus from Yichang to Enshi. The ticket we had bought the day before did not have a bus number or a seat so it was first come first serve. We were the first ones on our 18 passenger bus so we had the two best leg room seats. It was the most pleasant bus experience, minus our chain smoker driver. The bus ride took 10 hours through bumpy mountain roads, but has incredible views the entire way.
So now we are back to our ice box and living in our bedroom again, but we are happy to be back. Norse and Bevan cooked us a big meal when we returned and we were so happy because all we had to eat was a PB and J sandwich and a bag of chips. We really missed everyone while we were gone.
We still have 3 weeks of vacation left and then we start our second term. We are ready to get started again and have our students back. Our part of town is so quiet and most of the businesses are closed because the students are gone. It will not be quiet for long because the 26th in the Chinese New Year and that means lots and lots of fireworks. I don't know if I'm mentally prepared yet. They have the loudest fireworks I have ever heard! They make the windows rattle and your ears ring and they are nonstop sometimes.
Our trip gave us some rejuvenation and we are ready for the rest of our adventure here in Enshi!
It did not feel like we were in China when we were there, but it still had unique Chinese characteristics. We really had a great time for the week we were there. It was nice to get away from the frigid temperatures in Enshi and go to an island where it was 80 degrees. Since I only see the sun once a week, the sun really got me down there. I was under a beach umbrella and still burnt my legs from the reflection of the sun off of the ocean.
We flew from Wuhan to Sanya and we were picked up at the airport by a surfer named Joey from Taiwan. We really enjoyed getting to talk to him. He took us to our hostel where we stayed during the trip. We met a lot of people there. We met people from Oregon, Illinois, Montana, Florida, South Carolina, New York, and Colorado. There were also people from Russia, Sweden, and France that stayed there. A lot of Russians come down to Sanya to vacation. It was nice seeing people that looked similar to us even if we didn't speak the same language. Over our vacation we had a multicultural experience with all of the different people there.
During our first day, we relaxed on the beach and enjoyed the sunshine. On the way to the bus stop, we had a unique experience. In the middle of four lanes of highway, a water buffalo was wandering down the street. Of course there was a crowd following it and also a police car honking and yelling at it. The water buffalo got scared and jumped the median and attacked a lady. She stood up and then it hit her again. We tried to make it across the street, but the traffic was too heavy. She was okay and walked away with no problems. We got on the bus and the water buffalo was still making his way down the street. We do not know what happened, but hopefully he did not hurt anyone else. Our other encounter with another wild animal comes later.
We also got to enjoy a lot of American food while we were there. There was a restaurant named the Rainbow Cafe. We ate there a few times because it was so delicious. They had the most amazing hamburgers and salad. It made us miss American food even more! The waiter, Tony was also really cool so liked going there because of him. We also ate some McDonalds while we were there. We don't eat when we are home, but here it is so nice to have a Big Mac or Chicken Mcnuggets sometime and of course an ice cream cone. We also found a little street restaurant that had delicious seafood fried rice. It was nice to enjoy Western food when you leave in a city that has NO Western food, unless we cook it.
We got to go snorkeling in the ocean. It was my first time and I loved it once I got over the initial fear of being in deep water and going under. We saw a beautiful coral reef, some tropical fish, and even a few squid. Our guide spoke two English words, come and go. It was pretty funny to hear him yelling come and go at us. I tried to speak a little Chinese to him and I failed!
Our favorite part of the trip was going to Monkey Island. You had to drive an hour outside of Sanya to get to the island and then ride a cable car across forest and ocean to get there. The drive there was through rural areas. We saw cows! I know that sounds silly, but we haven't seen them in five months. All we see are water buffalo. There were also pigs, chickens, and goats walking around along side the roads. It was also the fastest we have gone in a car in five months. Our taxi driver was going around 80 miles per hour on the interstate. I was absolutely terrified because the fastest we have gone since we have been home is around 30 miles an hour. Once we made it on the island, there were monkeys everywhere including little baby monkeys. They were so curious and would walk right up to you or try to get into your bag. We took pictures and put them on our website so you could see how cute they were. I did have one scary encounter with a mother monkey. Craig left me for a few minutes to go the bathroom. I was standing in an area watching the monkeys play in the trees when a baby monkey swung about 2 feet from my face in a tree nearby. All of a sudden a mother monkey came running at me with her teeth showing. I was terrified! I walked away slowly and it stopped coming at me, but I thought I was about to have to fight a monkey. Another monkey tried to climb on me when I was kneeling down to take a picture. I liked the monkeys, but after the close encounters I was ready to go.
We had a lot of relaxing on the beach, a little bit of street shopping, and just enjoying the warm weather. I was not ready to come back, but was happy to come back to our friends. Since flights were too expensive, we took a bus from Wuhan to Enshi. It was a little crazy trying to find out which bus we needed to get on to go to another bus station, but we had people help us the whole way. There was not a direct bus to Enshi so we took a 4 hour bus ride to Yichang and stayed with Zach and Elizabeth for a night. We enjoyed getting to hang out with them and Elizabeth made cheesecake! The next morning we got up at 6 A.M. to catch the bus from Yichang to Enshi. The ticket we had bought the day before did not have a bus number or a seat so it was first come first serve. We were the first ones on our 18 passenger bus so we had the two best leg room seats. It was the most pleasant bus experience, minus our chain smoker driver. The bus ride took 10 hours through bumpy mountain roads, but has incredible views the entire way.
So now we are back to our ice box and living in our bedroom again, but we are happy to be back. Norse and Bevan cooked us a big meal when we returned and we were so happy because all we had to eat was a PB and J sandwich and a bag of chips. We really missed everyone while we were gone.
We still have 3 weeks of vacation left and then we start our second term. We are ready to get started again and have our students back. Our part of town is so quiet and most of the businesses are closed because the students are gone. It will not be quiet for long because the 26th in the Chinese New Year and that means lots and lots of fireworks. I don't know if I'm mentally prepared yet. They have the loudest fireworks I have ever heard! They make the windows rattle and your ears ring and they are nonstop sometimes.
Our trip gave us some rejuvenation and we are ready for the rest of our adventure here in Enshi!
Friday, January 2, 2009
Happy New Year
I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and has had a great start to the new year! We had an interesting Christmas, at least an interesting Christmas Eve. To start, Craig and I were on the school radio that broadcasts over the whole campus. I was a little nervous at first, but after awhile it was not so bad. The show lasted for 30 minutes and we had an audience of about 15 to come watch us. Right after the radio show, we went to a Christmas party that the school had for us. There were 30 performances and we were one of them. We had rehearsed for about 30 minutes while everyone else had practiced for at least one month. We sang Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and Santa Clause is Coming to Town. We were on stage with lights and around 2,000 people yelling and standing for us. It made me feel like a rock star, except we were singing children’s songs and we sounded pretty terrible. We have the video so we will show you when we get home. I wouldn’t dare put it on the internet, but there is no telling how many of the students have it on video though! After we performed, we had to go downtown to attend another Christmas party. On the way, our car got hit by a dump truck twice. Nothing serious and everyone was okay! It was pretty scary considering we were in a little Sedan car and it was a huge dump truck. I think our car was as tall as his wheel! All in all, the most eventful Christmas Eve I have ever had.
Katie, Zack, and Elizabeth (Friends from America living in Yichang) came to celebrate Christmas with us. We had a great time getting to spend several days with them! We had Christmas dinner on Sunday and exchanged some presents. I cooked my first ever chicken and dressing, homemade yeast rolls, and pumpkin pie! The meal turned out a lot better than Thanksgiving!
We have been on vacation for a week now! The time has already gone by so quickly. Our students do not leave until the 9th of January so we have been having meals and hanging out with some of them before they leave. Jess Turner has left for America and I must say I miss her. I am now the only American girl, and soon I will be the only girl here. Jess come back!!! While Jess is gone, I will be the cook so the boys do not starve! I will cook them one meal a day and being the dork that I am, I even made a menu for each day.
We have been enjoying our vacation; I am already feeling a renewed energy. We have been spending more time in the word and more time talking to Dad. He is giving us a new peace and energy. I have also been trying to study my Chinese everyday and have started exercising more!
We leave for Sanya on January 13th and we will return to Enshi on January 22nd. We are so excited about this trip! It is going to be around 70 or 80 degrees which is its main appeal for me! I am freezing here! Since we did not get to take a long honeymoon, this is going to be our honeymoon/1 year anniversary trip! We figure we could never afford a trip like this in America. It is so cheap to travel here! We will take a lot of pictures for you!
When Jess returns in February, we are wanting to travel to Tiger Leaping Gorge in Yunnan province to hike in the Himalayas. Craig and I want to go to Chengdu to see the pandas on the way back. We do not have all the details, but we are pretty excited about it!
Continue to remember us in your thoughts as we travel and also as we prepare our hearts and minds for next term. We are really looking forward to next term! We have some new classes next term and we are pretty excited about getting to meet new students!
It is hard to believe, we are half way through our trip. We will miss all of the friends we have here, but we can’t wait to see all of you again!
We would love to hear from you!
Katie, Zack, and Elizabeth (Friends from America living in Yichang) came to celebrate Christmas with us. We had a great time getting to spend several days with them! We had Christmas dinner on Sunday and exchanged some presents. I cooked my first ever chicken and dressing, homemade yeast rolls, and pumpkin pie! The meal turned out a lot better than Thanksgiving!
We have been on vacation for a week now! The time has already gone by so quickly. Our students do not leave until the 9th of January so we have been having meals and hanging out with some of them before they leave. Jess Turner has left for America and I must say I miss her. I am now the only American girl, and soon I will be the only girl here. Jess come back!!! While Jess is gone, I will be the cook so the boys do not starve! I will cook them one meal a day and being the dork that I am, I even made a menu for each day.
We have been enjoying our vacation; I am already feeling a renewed energy. We have been spending more time in the word and more time talking to Dad. He is giving us a new peace and energy. I have also been trying to study my Chinese everyday and have started exercising more!
We leave for Sanya on January 13th and we will return to Enshi on January 22nd. We are so excited about this trip! It is going to be around 70 or 80 degrees which is its main appeal for me! I am freezing here! Since we did not get to take a long honeymoon, this is going to be our honeymoon/1 year anniversary trip! We figure we could never afford a trip like this in America. It is so cheap to travel here! We will take a lot of pictures for you!
When Jess returns in February, we are wanting to travel to Tiger Leaping Gorge in Yunnan province to hike in the Himalayas. Craig and I want to go to Chengdu to see the pandas on the way back. We do not have all the details, but we are pretty excited about it!
Continue to remember us in your thoughts as we travel and also as we prepare our hearts and minds for next term. We are really looking forward to next term! We have some new classes next term and we are pretty excited about getting to meet new students!
It is hard to believe, we are half way through our trip. We will miss all of the friends we have here, but we can’t wait to see all of you again!
We would love to hear from you!
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Christmas Time Is Here
We had three Christmas parties this week! By the end of the week, we were both very tired! We watched Rudolph, decorated Christmas cookies, played cards, and drank hot chocolate. I think they all had a great time! We really enjoyed getting to share part of Christmas with them. We have also been giving final exams this week. We have Monday and Tuesday left to give exams and we are both finished for the semester! We plan on traveling to a few places during the vacation, but we are unsure of the details right now. We are looking forward to our time off because we are both getting worn down, but we are going to miss all of our friends when they go back home.
We put pictures of our Christmas parties on our website. http://picasaweb.google.com/jcd1983
Enjoy this Christmas week! We are thinking about you all!
We put pictures of our Christmas parties on our website. http://picasaweb.google.com/jcd1983
Enjoy this Christmas week! We are thinking about you all!
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